McDonnell: Consider arming school officials

Governor says the Sandy Hook discussion must include mental health and civil society

Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday that lawmakers should have a "reasonable" discussion about allowing school officials to carry weapons on campus in response to last week's tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 26 people, including 20 children, were killed.

"I know there's been a knee-jerk reaction against that, but I think there should be at least a discussion of that," McDonnell said on his weekly "Ask the Governor" radio show broadcast on WTOP 103.5 FM in Washington, D.C.

"If people were armed — not just the police officer — but other school officials that were trained and chose to carry a weapon, certainly there would be an opportunity to stop aggressors coming into the schools."

McDonnell reiterated comments he made on Monday that it was too soon after the massacre to put new policies in place.

"The key is don't overreact," he said. "Don't react when you're emotional because your policies might not be right. The key is looking at what works."

State Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, a longtime proponent of gun control to cut down on inner-city violence, said in response that "a more reasonable discussion would be to talk about controlling weapons."

"Simply arming people isn't going to solve the problem in and of itself," Locke said. "What comes next? Arming the students?"

McDonnell said he supports Virginia's current ban on weapons in schools and within 1,000 feet of school grounds, except for law enforcement officials.

"But I think it's a discussion that's timely," he said.

For Locke there are some places where weapons just don't belong, including schools, churches and libraries.

But she said she'd be open to "rational" discussions on the topic "where everything is laid out on the table."

"Ultimately, what we tend to be faced with are simply immediate and irrational reactions to an incident," Locke said. "Such as let's just arm everybody. That's on one side. And on the other side it's, let's take everybody's gun away."

Ben Kiser, superintendent of Gloucester Schools, said he does not think allowing school officials to carry firearms would be a wise solution, but he's open to the debate.

"I'm not opposed to having that as part of the debate, as well as other proposed strategies out there," he said.

Kiser said he's more open to the idea of having well-trained law enforcement personnel on school campuses.

Betsy Overkamp-Smith, spokeswoman for Williamsburg-James City County schools, said they are looking at a number of things to improve safety, but disagree with the governor.

"We don't think more guns on school grounds is the answer," she said.

Suffolk Public Schools spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw said her district already has police officers at the middle and high schools, so they're not sure if allowing administrators to carry firearms would be appropriate. It's an issue they would have to study, she said.

"We would have to see if that would work for us here," she said.

Many school districts have unarmed law enforcement officers on school campuses, and McDonnell said he hopes it doesn't come to upgrading to armed officers.

"My hope is that we're not at the point where when a little first- or second-grader comes into school, the first thing they see is a police officer with a gun," McDonnell said. "But obviously, we're going to do, first and foremost, what's right for children and what's right for public safety."

On Monday, McDonnell asked administration officials to work with school superintendents on reviewing and improving safety plans. He is also forming a school safety task force made up of educators, lawmakers and law enforcement officials.

Both McDonnell and Locke said discussions need to be had on mental health and the problems that lead to breakdowns in our society like the shootings at Sandy Hook.

"Honestly, (we need to have) the broader conversation about what kind of society and culture do we have where this kind of violence can occur," McDonnell said. "And what things — whether it's from bullying to showing greater love and empathy and support for people that have challenges in the society — how are we going to be a more just and fair and compassionate society so people don't act out like this."